More Than This

Author: Patrick Ness
Publisher: Walker Books
First Published: May 1, 2014
480 pages (paperback)

Um, so, this is one of those weird situations where I'm done reading the book and I thought it was just okay. Then I go on Goodreads and see everyone and their mom and dog LOVES this novel and has given it 4 or 5 stars. Everyone's reviews are just gushing about how this book is the best thing since sliced bread. It has won freaking awards! And I just thought it was okay??? I mean, did we read the same novel? I usually have the same opinion as the masses (not really a hipster or anything), so I don't know what happened here. But I wasn't really as impressed as everyone else.

Okay, so what is MORE THAN THIS about? Well, this is the kind of novel where I can't tell you too much about what it's about because it'll actually probably just ruin the story. 99% of the fun of this book is finding out, little by little, what the heck is happening. Still, I will make an attempt. A boy wakes up in a seemingly random location. He has very little memory as to what has happened to him and he's pretty much naked. The only thing he knows for sure is that his name is Seth.

Seth wanders around this strange world that doesn't have anybody else in it. He seems to be the only person alive in the whole world. And the world seems like it has gone through an apocalypse or something; everything abandoned and dusty. He gets flashbacks of his life, his regular life, where he lived with his mom, dad and brother Owen in America. He remembers his friends and how they pulled stupid pranks together. But he doesn't know where he is now or what's happening. He begins to suspect that he's in hell, that this is the world after death. But surely there's more to this world than this endless wandering?

My first Patrick Ness novel was his most recent, THE REST OF US JUST LIVE HERE. I also thought that was just ok. I decided to try this one specifically because it got so many rave reviews. You see, I really want to like Patrick Ness' novels. I've heard so many great things about him, I want to join in on the fun! What the heck happened? Did something go whoosh over my head? I don't know. I totally understand the story, I don't think it's a matter of me not "getting" anything. People say this book is moving. But I didn't feel anything even close to being moved at all.

For the first third of the novel or something, Seth is literally alone. And don't get me wrong, Patrick Ness is a terrific writer, absolutely! However, the first third was pretty dull. I did like slowly discovering the world with Seth, but to be honest, he discovered everything a bit too slow for my tastes. The book later got interesting when the other characters entered the plot. Then there was the discovery of what's really happening (hint hint, it's kind of like The Matrix) and that got more interesting. But when I reached the end of the novel, I was just like, "That's it? This is the novel that got so many people in love with it?" I understand the story, but I don't get why people love it.

I think there's supposed to be something inspirational and hopeful about this story. But because it's science fiction and the fact that I didn't find the Matrix-style plot all that relateable, I guess the effect was lost on me.

I guess for the majority of the book, I kept thinking that there will be 'more than this' to MORE THAN THIS, hahaha. Lame jokes. It's not that this was a bad book. I guess I just got way too hyped up over it, and you know, I don't think this kind of novel is my cup of tea at all.

Should I just give up on Patrick Ness?? Maybe he and I just don't mesh. I don't know. We'll see ...

My Rating:

Scarlet

Author: Marissa Meyer
First Published: February 2013
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #2
452 pages (hardcover)

So, in 2011, I read the book Cinder, which is the first book in the series. I loved it, and knew I was going to read the rest of the series. But then, as it usually happens, the wait between installments causes me to forget (because I'm not very good at keeping up with book news). I was recently reminded of this series when I saw the fourth (and final!) book in bookstores and I thought, "Oh my gawd, the last book is already out?!"

So it's been 4 years and my memory is a little hazy on what happened in Cinder, but I still found Scarlet very enjoyable to read. I wonder if I would have liked it more if I read them back to back?

I did not know the Lunar Chronicles features a different fairy tale heroine in each installment. I think this is an awesome idea! In this second book in the series, the new fairy tale heroine featured is Little Red Riding Hood. Cinder (as in, Cinderella), the cyborg mechanic from the first book, is still a main character.

Scarlet begins with 18 year old Scarlet who is looking for her lost grandmother. Her grandmother has been missing for the past two weeks and the police don't seem to care. A chance meeting with a mysterious street fighter named Wolf brings her closer to locating her beloved grandmother. Wolf appears to know more about the whereabouts of Scarlet's grandmother than he is letting on. As Scarlet and Wolf investigate the disappearance together, Scarlet realizes that whoever took her grandmother, took her because her grandmother knows about the true identity of the missing Lunar princess, Selene.

In the meantime, Cinder is stuck in prison due to the events that happened in the first book. Reluctantly resorting to her Lunar capabilities of mind control, Cinder escapes with fellow prisoner Captain Thorne, a devilishly handsome rogue of a man who just so happens to own a large cargo spaceship. But escaping is just the beginning -- the entire world is looking for her, because the Queen of Luna, Levana, is furious that Cinder has ran away. If Cinder is not found in time, Queen Levana is threatening to war against the entire Earth.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Wonderfully written and a nicely paced story. A lot of my liking has to do with the fact that I am just a sucker for fairy tale retellings. I love this series because it is just by far one of the most imaginative fairy tale retellings I've encountered in my 'travels' (in the book world) so far. I mean, sci-fi fairy tales?! It sounds crazy but it works in this series.

Also, Little Red Riding Hood is not a fairy tale that usually gets the novelization treatment. There's tons of Cinderella retellings, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, etc. but LRRH is, I suppose, too short of a tale to flesh out into a whole novel. Well, I guess it's true, it IS a short fairy tale. But Marissa Meyer found a way to incorporate LRRH into the existing Lunar Chronicles world, and I just loved the way it all fit together.

If I may have a complaint though, it did bug me a bit how Scarlet and Cinder's paths didn't cross until near the end of the novel. It's a bit like reading two separate stories until that point. You have all the stuff that's happening with Scarlet and all the stuff that's happening with Cinder, and for a long time, I didn't even think the two characters were going to meet. They do, eventually, of course, but it was pretty darn near the end. Just a small complaint, I think if they could have met earlier it would have been fantastic.

Anyway, if you enjoyed the first Lunar Chronicle book, I am sure you will also like book two. I am really looking forward to the third book, Cress, which apparently features Rapunzel! And the fourth and final book, Winter, that was just released a few days ago, which features Snow White. Exciting stuff!

My Rating: 4/5

Mockingjay

This post first published May 15, 2011.

Author: Suzanne Collins
Published: August 2010
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Series: The Hunger Games #3
390 pages (hardcover)
 
As the final book of the series, I don’t think Mockingjay does The Hunger Games justice. I think this book bombed. If you are planning to read this series, I’d suggest stopping after book two, but with that cliffhanger, I suppose you’d feel compelled to read book three anyway. I wanted to like this book, I tried to like this book, but I found it hard to pretend. And I’m going to apologize ahead of time that half of this post contains spoilers (which are marked).

In Catching Fire, we were left off with the most aggravating-in-a-good-way cliffhanger: “There is no District 12.” In this book, we find out District 12 has been destroyed by the Capitol after Katniss escaped from the Hunger Games arena, and less than 10% of District 12’s population has fled to the once thought to be non-existing District 13, who takes them in. Katniss and Peeta somehow get flung into opposite ends of the war: Katniss is wanted by the rebels to become their Mockingjay — the face of the rebellion, their symbol of hope. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol and is being used as the spokesperson for their own cause — a call for a ceasefire.

I’ll try not to be a negative Nancy by talking about the few things I did like first. Though I didn’t really have any characters I particularly liked or cared about in the first two books, I did in this one: Finnick! A secondary character, I know, but his background story is expanded in this novel and … I don’t know. I think I liked him because he’s the only one who doesn’t seem so bland. I also liked the concept of President Snow’s character. The whole blood and roses thing was pretty awesome, and really gave me an idea of what kind of villain we are dealing with. Seriously, two thumbs up for a great villain concept.

I can’t really think of anything more I liked … As for what I didn’t like … Well, I will start off with the general plot of the story. I didn’t find it engaging or interesting because so many of the things that should be engaging and interesting happen off camera or were seriously downplayed. (Contains Spoilers!) Example 1 – When Gale & Co. go rescue Peeta from the Capitol, Katniss just stays behind in District 13. Next page, bam! Hey Peeta’s back! I don’t know about you, but getting Peeta back seems important enough to me to happen on stage. Example 2 – Finnick’s death was brushed off like it was nothing. I know, he’s a secondary character, but surely his relationship with Katniss warranted more than just a, “Oh no! Finnick died! … Moving on now …” Example 3 – Pretty much the entire ending of the war happened off-screen. President Snow’s capture? Off screen. Katniss’ trial after she killed Coin? Off screen. I felt seriously robbed. These feel like HUGE moments, but instead all I got was Katniss locked up somewhere, and a few pages of reading about Katniss contemplating suicide later, a messenger arrives with, “Oh hey, uh, we decided you’re free in a trial that you didn’t even have to attend.” I mean, really?

Oh, and I must mention how I feel the message of the series got totally destroyed by the ending. This is what I thought the take-home message was: killing destroys people, it ruins them. It doesn’t fix anything, and you can’t rule through fear. Yet at the end, when Coin proposes a final Hunger Games for the children of Capitol citizens, Katniss agrees. Seriously?! I felt like that went against everything the books were telling me … evidently, I’ve been misinterpreting the entire series the entire time. It’s all good as long as it’s for justice?

Lastly, the love triangle thing was NOT resolved, in my opinion. Katniss ends up with Peeta … because Gale gets a job working in District 2 and doesn’t see her anymore. Really? Katniss ends up with Peeta because he’s the one who is physically closest to her? And Gale doesn’t even attempt to do anything about reaching out to Katniss, he just gives up? So much for being sooo in love with her. This all happens in one sentence: “Peeta and I grow back together.” Small paragraph explaining why Peeta and not Gale. The end. The love triangle thing has never felt like it fit in this series, but I mean, since it’s in the story now, I expected a better resolution. (End Spoilers)

My final thoughts are that Mockingjay is a letdown, and a disappointing end to a good series. For a book about life and death, friendship, trust and vengeance, it was utterly void of emotions due to the monotonous voice Collins employs to write her novels, and lack of inclusion of what I believe to be key scenes. I feel that Collins had a strong idea for The Hunger Games, but no strong direction as to what should occur in the series’ subsequent novels, and it really shows in Mockingjay. This was a frustrating read for me, I’m sad to say.

I considered giving just one star, but you know what? I still think overall, the series is good, and Mockingjay had its small, rare moments.

My Rating: 1.5/5

Reached

This post first published June 23, 2014.

Author: Ally Condie
First Published: November 2012
Publisher: Dutton
Series: Matched #3
512 pages (hardcover)
 
If you’ve read my reviews for the first two books of this series, you might be wondering why I bothered reading book three, Reached, at all, since I didn’t really like the first two books that much. Well, my line of thinking was something like, “I’ve come this far, it’s the last book.” I didn’t really care about how the story was going to end, but I did want some sort of closure with the series. Well, I got to the end and it’s pretty much the same as the first two books, though somehow this one managed to be even more boring.

So, the Rising (the rebellion) is supposed to be up and fighting the Society in this final book.During all this, there is a Plague going around and our main characters are trying very hard to find the Cure for. Even worse, the Plague mutates, so that their previous Cure no longer works and they have to find a new one. And of course, during all these events, it is expected (as the third and final book in the series and all), that Cassia is going to finally make a proper decision between Xander and Ky, the two boys who are in love with her.

It all sounds very exciting, but it wasn’t. I thought book two was going to be the most boring book in the series, but I was wrong: book three is! The first 300-ish pages of this book, it honestly felt like nothing was happening. There is nothing that happens that sticks out in my mind. There was just so much “fluff” writing. It felt like the author wanted to be “deep” and thoughtful in her writing, but none of it was convincing. And while I normally like poetry, I don’t buy what this book (or rather, this series) has done with poems. They become almost like a form of currency, people trading bits of poems to get what they want. Why would a bunch of rebels who can’t even write decide that poetry was worth anything? I hardly think their Society mandated education would help them learn how to appreciate poetry, especially poetry that was written decades or even centuries ago. Maybe modern poetry … Anyway, I digress …

I kept expecting the Rising to finally do something against the Society. But there was no fighting, no nothing! I don’t NEED there to be actual fighting to be interesting, but I did expect something exciting to go down. Instead, I got this super anti-climatic realization from Cassia that the Rising and the Society are one, that the Society engineered the Rising to make people think there’s change and be satisfied. The reveal was not very exciting and the events that followed this realization were pretty boring!

The love story between Cassia, Xander and Ky ended very predictably too. I did not expect the “leftover” boy to find love too, but he did. That didn’t make me feel happy though. I feel that having the “leftover” boy find true love suddenly just undermines the “leftover” boy’s feelings for Cassia during the entire series. If he can love another girl so soon after Cassia makes up her mind about who she wants to be with, then he never truly loved Cassia at all, you know?

I don’t feel satisfied after reading this final book, but I can’t really say I’m disappointed either. I just feel nothing, like none of it mattered.

My Rating: 2/5

Artemis Fowl

This post first published July 27, 2013.

Author: Eoin Colfer
First Published: January 2001
Publisher: Hyperion
Series: Artemis Fowl #1
280 pages (paperback)
 
I’ve heard a bunch of good things about this series, so I looked into it. I was a bit surprised that it was a children’s series, because the people who were praising the series didn’t seem like the type who read children’s books, but I was looking for something easy to read during my commutes to campus, so why the hell not? It seems like a light hearted read, which was exactly what I was looking for.

Artemis Fowl is a genius and millionaire 12 year old. His father mysteriously disappeared years ago and his mother has been depressed and holed up in her bedroom ever since, leaving little Artemis on his own most of the time. This is fine by Artemis because he’s quite independent and in fact, very mature and advanced for his age. It’s also beneficial that his parents aren’t really around because Artemis is a criminal mastermind, and not having the parents around makes his criminal activities a little easier to conduct.

His latest crime? Kidnapping a fairy. Yes, a real fairy! Artemis has big plans to obtain some fairy gold as per old legends and myths, but little does he know what the fairy world is really like. He captures Captain Holly Short, a member of the LEPrecon (Lower Elements Police Reconnaisance) unit, and her colleagues are determined to rescue her from Artemis’ clutches.

The idea of Artemis as a criminal mastermind really appealed to me for some reason. A lot of children’s books often have a more traditional protagonist, someone more heroic and ‘good’. This is the first children’s book I’ve read where the protagonist is a self proclaimed criminal mastermind; it made for a rather interesting read. Artemis isn’t actually a bad guy, he just happens to dabble in criminality because it’s the only way to get what he wants. There are some things that he wants — such as his father’s return, or for his mother to notice him — that can’t be bought with money.

I was a little surprised that there was a fantastical element to the book. When I was looking up the series, I guess I somehow missed the fairy stuff, which I know is really hard to miss when you’re looking up Artemis Fowl on the internet, so no, I don’t know how that happened. You can imagine my surprise when I’m reading and reading and suddenly fairies are introduced. I know fairies are an integral part of the Artemis Fowl series, and for the most part I didn’t mind them, the fairies are alright. But I hated the dwarves. They just seemed too silly, even for a children’s book. I mean, one of them had an attack where he shot poop out his butt … so weird! And yes, I know, this is a kid’s book and I’m a mid-20’s adult, but I’ve always considered myself a kid at heart. Even I felt a little “WTF” when I read that part.

As for the actual story, it was alright too, a little simplistic but entertaining enough. Reading this book was kind of like watching a Saturday morning cartoon, it was funny and charming. It easy to pick up and put down repeatedly, which is a good attribute for a commute-ride-book. Never had a problem following the story. I’m not dying to know what happens to Artemis next, but I wouldn’t mind reading book two to see what misadventures he gets up to later. This book was certainly fun to read, it had its silly moments and laugh out moments, and lots of action too.

My Rating: 3/5

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

This post first published June 11, 2013.


Author: Douglas Adams
First Published: June 1997
Publisher: Picador
Series: Hitchhiker’s Guide #2
200 pages (paperback)
 
I’m not sure what it was with this second book, but it didn’t quite catch my interest like the first book did. Maybe it’s because it’s the second book in the series, or maybe it’s because I’m reading this one a year after I read the first, or maaaybe it’s because book two was published almost twenty years after the first. I don’t know. I thought The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy was funny, witty and creative. I thought book two was immature, aimless and nonsensical. And I’m not sure why! Because, if you have read this series, you would know that being silly is kind of the whole point of the books. Yet I found the silliness in book one to be more understandable than book two! Strange …

I am not even too sure how to describe the plot of this book because it was kind of all over the place. Our main characters decide they need to eat some food after what happened in the last book, so they are looking for a place to eat when they end up at the restaurant at the end of the universe, Milliway’s. Of course, during their journey the gang ends up going through a series of wacky adventures, including meeting the man who runs the entire universe.

So from what I understand, a lot of people like book two and think it’s just as good, if not better, than the first. Apparently, I have a dissenting opinion, haha. Maybe I just don’t “get” this one, but I wasn’t very engaged with the story at all. It was all just very bizarre. And I know it’s supposed to be bizarre. I can’t really pinpoint why this book felt different from book one’s silliness. And to top it all off, I can’t even really remember what I just read, because the plot felt like it went all over the place. It was all kind of a blur, especially since the book is so short.

This is going to be one of my shorter reviews since I don’t really know what else to say about this book. It was “okay”. I will continue the series because I own all five in a box set so I’ll get around to it eventually. Book two hasn’t exactly made me excited for book three, though.

My Rating: 2/5

Ender's Game

This post first published April 6, 2013.

Author: Orson Scott Card
First Published: 1985
Publisher: Starscape
Series: Ender’s Saga #1
336 pages (paperback)
 
A sci-fi classic that I have been interested in for a while now, and bumped up on my reading list because I heard there was movie coming out! And I love it when books get turned into movies, regardless if it turns out good or bad. Of course, after I finished reading it, I realized the movie isn’t until much later this year so I needn’t have rushed. Oh well! I’m glad to have read this book anyway, even though it wasn’t exactly everything I dreamed it to be, it was still good.

Ender’s Game takes place in the far future. Humans are involved in a sort of turf war with an alien race of insect-like creatures, and the humans are seriously outnumbered. The war is close, but now humanity’s only hope rests upon the shoulders of one genius six year old boy — Andrew “Ender” Wiggin. Ender is a “third” — in this future, there is a population policy where only two kids are allowed per family, except in cases where the government deems the family to have good genes and can have a third child. Ender’s older brother and sister are brilliant geniuses as well, but not good enough for the government. However, Ender checks out and is taken to Battle School, where he is to be trained for years to become a commander that will hopefully defeat the aliens once and for all.

So, the story sounds a little funky and in some ways, it is. It has strong themes in childhood, military, human relationships and is a coming-of-age story as well. I really loved the messages this book brought about regarding these themes. I thought they were interesting and thought provoking, especially watching Ender’s personality change throughout his years in Battle School. He went from being a pretty nice but sheltered boy who was bullied and picked on, to a tough, no-nonsense kind of boy. The other characters were interesting as well, and I wish there was more on Ender’s brother and sister, Peter and Valentine. They were secondary characters who had their own plot too, but I felt there wasn’t much about them. It was a shame because the three siblings’ relationship is so complex and interesting. They both feared Peter, and as for Peter, I couldn’t really tell if he loved his siblings or wanted to kill them.

Other aspects of the story were kind of strange from a realistic point of view. For example: you definitely have to understand that Ender and the rest of his battle school classmates are not normal six, seven, eight, etc. year olds. These are geniuses that the government has monitored for years, or the government has persuaded certain families to give birth to. Ender and his classmates certainly do not act like you would expect of children. Many times I forgot they were even children! There is a little explanation throughout the book as to why the government/military can only use children for commanders, which kind of made sense from a philosophical or theoretical point of view. But then later, you’re like, “But … he’s six!” (Or eleven, or however old he was at the time).

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It does feel kind of dated when you’re reading it, the same way you can read a Jane Austen novel and know it must be old because of the language used. I don’t think I enjoyed it enough to continue reading the series — maybe, if I get free copies or something — but I do look forward to the movie and seeing how they will interpret everything on the big screen.

My Rating: 3/5

Shades of Earth

This post first published March 24, 2013.

Author: Beth Revis
First Published: January 2013
Publisher: Razorbill
Series: Across the Universe #3
369 pages (hardcover)
 
The final book of the Across The Universe YA trilogy! In case you haven’t read my reviews of the previous two books, I am a big fan of this series and really enjoyed books one and two. Needless to say, I greatly anticipated book three, Shades Of Earth, especially since book two ended on such a cliffhanger! Because I found books one and two to be absolutely fantastic, I did have rather high expectations for book three and I’m happy to find that it completely lived up to my expectations!  (Sadly, I think the cover is really atrocious and doesn’t link itself to the first two books at all).

The first two books in this series are about a young teenage girl, Amy, who was cryogenically frozen aboard the enormous spacecraft, Godspeed, along with many other humans, to become colonizers of a newly discovered Earth-like planet dubbed Centauri-Earth. It is a 300 year journey, but Amy is accidentally unfrozen 50 years too soon by a boy named Elder. Elder is the leader-in-training of the shipborn humans, the ones who were born, lived, and died, on Godspeed all their lives in order to keep the ship operating for so long. Not to get into too much detail, but Amy and Elder discover a huge conspiracy/secret about the ship which takes up the first two books in the trilogy.

In book three, we have finally landed on Centauri-Earth! I have looked forward to this moment for a long time, ever since the very first book. I wondered if the new planet is going to as wonderful as the characters believed it could be, despite the unknown dangers they are also aware of. Seriously, I really, really looked forward to it! The book did a really good job dragging out my curiosity for as long as possible. Maybe some people will see that as a bad thing, but I loved it — I hung onto every word that I read, and kept telling myself ‘one more chapter, one more chapter’. Every chapter seemed to add more and more questions to my list, and I was just dying to know what this new planet was all about. This was the kind of book where once I started reading, I couldn’t stop.

(The following paragraph contains spoilers!) One thing I wasn’t completely satisfied with was the new character of Chris and his role in the story. It didn’t really make sense to me why, when the Godspeed survivors landed, the Colonel (Amy’s dad) would let Chris into their colony and pretend to everyone that he was actually a part of the group the whole time. That just seemed farfetched and ridiculous to me. I don’t know about you, but if I was starting a colony on a new planet and ran across a strange human being who was not a part of my group, I wouldn’t invite him to simply pretend he was with us all along and not tell anyone. Wouldn’t you want to get more information from him? Anyway, that one part seemed off to me, but not enough to seriously distract me from the story. (End spoilers!)

I think it’s just crazy (in a good way) how Beth Revis keeps coming up with secret after secret for Amy and Elder to discover. The entire series has been such a roller-coaster ride. I enjoyed the direction Shades Of Earth headed towards in this book and I liked the happy ending as well. I don’t really have much else to say about this book because I enjoyed reading it so much — stayed up super late to finish it! — and found very little to complain about. I really, really recommend this YA series, hope you will like it too!

My Rating: 5/5

Oryx and Crake

This post first published March 19, 2013.

Author: Margaret Atwood
First Published: May 2003
Publisher: Vintage Canada
Series: MaddAdam #1
416 pages (mass market paperback)
 
Simply amazing!

Two years ago, I read The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood and thought it was a great book, even though the ending half threw me off a bit. Later, I realized the ending half of The Year of the Flood was actually the point of the story that picked up from the ending of another book, Oryx & Crake. That’s when I realized that I actually read the second book in a series!  No wonder I was a bit lost near the end. Anyway, I did like The Year of the Flood quite a bit regardless and told myself I’ll read Oryx & Crake ASAP so that everything makes sense. ASAP apparently means two years later to me, haha.

So yes, here I am, having finally finished the first book of this wonderful series. Oryx & Crake is told by Jimmy, or Snowman, as he likes to be called in the post-apocalyptic world. After a disastrous biological virus of some sort wipes out humanity, Snowman believes he is the last human alive. Everyday he struggles to survive in a world where the animals have been genetically modified to either be more docile than they usually are, or more vicious. He has considered just killing himself off and being done with everything, but he continues to live because he promised his close friends, Crake and Oryx, that he will watch over the Crakers.

The Crakers are genetically modified “humans” that are vastly different from Snowman. They were created by his genius friend Crake, back when the world was still whole. The story alternates between the present, and flashbacks of the past, when Snowman was Jimmy. Jimmy and Crake were best of friends, but Crake was always the more genius of the two. Even when they separated and went to different schools, they remained in touch. One day, Crake invites Jimmy to work at his company, and it is there that Jimmy begins to fully comprehend the genetic projects Crake has been up to. He is assisted by Oryx, a girl that Jimmy and Crake have actually seen in kiddie porn. Both boys fall in love with Oryx.

Like with The Year of the Flood, this is a book with a powerful vision of the future, one that is depressingly bleak. I really love this book, and enjoyed it even more than I did with The Year of the Flood. Unlike its sequel, Oryx & Crake wasn’t just all about the apocalyptic present; there was also the time when the world was seemingly perfect. To them, it was a utopic point of civilization; to the reader, it appears utterly dystopic. The world is ruled by corporations and companies, which really, if you keep up with the news, appears to be the eerily similar path we are heading down. People want to be healthier, fitter, smarter, more beautiful, for as little world as possible, and the corporations in this novel fully take advantage of that. It might sound crazy, but I love books like this that speculate on the future, no matter how awful it may be. I love picking out what is plausible and what isn’t. A lot of things in this book sound like it could possibly happen in the far future.

I liked this novel because there is almost a philosophical component to it, as well. For example, the Crakers bring up an interesting idea. Crake takes the idea of humans becoming better extreme when he creates the Crakers — why not just completely reinvent the human species? Crake gets rid of a lot of what he calls unnecessary human behaviours and creates a “human” that I would argue is not a human anymore, even if they physically resemble one. This book is also full of ideas for conspiracy theories — some people may already believe them! As an example, in the book, Crake says that humans have already pretty much invented the cure for everything, but they keep coming up with new viruses in order to sell more medicine. It is creepily possible … Incidentally, this is what leads to the entire human population dying, when a super virus goes haywire.

And, of course, the writing is fabulous. It was actually quite easy to read and I was hooked onto the story not too many chapters in. I had a hard time putting it down. I loved the characters, they were so memorable. I haven’t fully figured out what was going on between the three characters, specifically Crake and Oryx. They are both such mysterious characters. Crake, especially. You can never fully figure out what’s going on in Crake’s head, which I think is the point. When it comes to Crake, there are so many ways to speculate about why he is behaving the way he is.

I definitely recommend this book to everyone!

My Rating: 5/5

The Map of Time

This post first published December 20, 2012.

Author: Felix J. Palma
First Published: October 2008 (English: June 2011) 
Publisher: Atria Books 
Series: Trilogia Victoriana #1
613 pages (hardcover)
 
I purchased this for sale a while back. The massmarket paperback version had just come out, and thus, all the hardcover editions at the bookstore I usually frequent had their prices drastically reduced to single digits. Intrigued by the cover and the synopsis (H.G.Wells as the main character? He’s one of my favourite classics authors, so this I had to read), I decided to give it a go. It sounded like everything I love in a novel — fantasy, science fiction, time traveling, a bit of romance, a bit of mystery, reading, books — and I have to say, I was not disappointed. There’s even some steampunk elements thrown in.

The Map of Time boasts three plots that are interwoven with one another. Well, the jacket flap says they are interwoven but to me, it really felt like three separate stories that lightly relate to one another. Reading some other reviews of this book, this seemed to be a turn-off for many readers and I completely understand. It kind of turned me off too, a bit. I like multiple plot novels as much as the next reader, but The Map of Time felt a little too similar to reading three short stories that have similar characters in the same world, instead of one novel. Don’t get me wrong, the three plots did interrelate with one another, but not as much as one would have thought.

The Map of Time has H. G. Wells as a central character in each of its three plots. H. G. Wells is, as many people know, a classic science fiction author, who wrote works such as The Time Machine and The Invisible Man. In the first plot, H. G. Wells helps a rich young man named Charles Winslow save the life of his cousin Andrew, who wants to commit suicide because the love of his life was killed by Jack the Ripper eight years ago. In the second plot, H. G. Wells helps a young man named Tom Blunt keep up an elaborate lie to save the life of a wealthy young woman whose desperately in love with Tom. And in the final and third plot, H. G. Wells tries to solve a puzzling series of murders where it appears as if the victims had a hole burned right through their body by a heat ray, an invention from the future.

Despite the disconnected feeling I got from the three plots that supposedly intersect one another (but not really), I still found this book to be absolutely mesmerizing and difficult to put down. It shocks and surprises you time after time. Whenever you think you got something figured out, it throws another curveball at you. It really feels like a magical adventure, full of good humor and really fun, clever writing. I found all three stories deliciously entertaining, addicting and full of good humor. The writing itself is brilliant, grandiose and quirky. I honestly didn’t even realize it was a translation of the original novel until I read that somewhere. I think someone described this book as a “magic show” somewhere and I think that’s a perfect description. Time and time again, I was dazzled, only to have the truth revealed … and then somehow, I get dazzled again.

Every character is unique in their own way and very memorable. They all have very elaborate backstories, which at times, can seem a bit excessive. Even rather minor characters, such as Andrew’s father, have their entire life biography revealed to you. I suppose I would ordinarily be annoyed by all this superfluous information that has no real bearing on the story, but I found even the backstories of these minor characters curiously interesting. It didn’t hinder my enjoyment of the book one bit.
You don’t need to have read any of H. G. Wells’ works in order to appreciate this book fully, although I’m certain it may help a bit (I, myself, have only read two of his works, none of them being The Time Machine which was featured so prominently in The Map of Time). It does a wonderful job of inspiring you to read his novels though, although it does spoil everything. So I would suggest reading Wells’ book first then this one second if you already intended to read The Time Machine. All in all, a brilliant story that got me through being stuck at home due to snow, and a power outage (heh). I definitely recommend giving this book a shot, hopefully you will like it too. I am looking forward to reading the second in this series, The Map of the Sky.

My Rating: 4.5/5

The Invisible Man

This post first published September 12, 2012.

Author: H.G. Wells
First Published: 1897
Publisher: Modern Library
162 pages (paperback)
 
The first H.G. Wells book I ever read was The Island of Doctor Moreau, and even though I’ve only read one of his books, I liked it enough that I considered myself a fan of his works. The Invisible Man is now my second Wells book. I picked it up as an easy and light read for commuting to and from school. It’s great reading some of the first science fiction stories written, and The Invisible Man is one that, for me, has always seemed like a pretty famous one. I really enjoyed this book, it was clear and easy to read.

The story begins with innkeepers Mr. and Mrs. Hall taking in a mysterious, nameless guest who is dressed in a hat and heavy coat, with bandages wrapped all around him. The stranger keeps to himself in his room for the most part, but everyone begins to grow suspicious about him. Eventually, they find out this stranger, Griffin, is an invisible man! He was originally a scientist, and being invisible was interesting and neat at first, but he quickly realized how burdensome it was. He is trying to become visible again, but with no luck so far. When no one will help him and try to capture him, Griffin’s temper fires up and plots a reign of terror against the small town.

I thought at first, being an invisible man, it might be about a guy who was scared about what was happening to him and desperately trying to fix himself. I suppose that’s what I would do if I ever found myself in his position. I never expected the invisible man to go crazy and start trying to kill people! When I thought about it, I guess it does make sense though. Being invisible surely could drive someone mental, and it does feel like Griffin, in this book, felt angrily jealous of visible people. I do think he started to go off his rocker there a bit, towards the end, though I think he was a person with anger issues to begin with. It’s really quite crazy how Griffin, a man people can’t even see, stirs up an entire town to start a sort of witch hunt for him. I mean, the guy’s invisible, you can’t see him! How can you find someone that is literally impossible to see? It kind of goes to show that anyone can cause a ripple in a pond, although of course, it helped that Griffin was sufficiently ambitious already.
This is science fiction after all, and I was pleased that there was an scientific explanation for how it is possible Griffin became invisible at all. Of course, it’s pseudo-science since humans can’t really become invisible (… as far as I know … !!) but it just goes to show how Wells established himself as a sci-fi writer and not simply a fantasy writer. Otherwise, this entire story can be brushed off with a magical explanation. But it’s not magic, it’s science!

This was a great read and it’s a very short book to boot, so if you like sci-fi, or you like classics, or you just like books in general, try giving this book a go!

P.S. The book edition I posted for this review is not the actual edition I read. I actually read this edition, which is free ebook with the iBook app, on my iPhone. It didn’t have a “cover”, so I just picked a random one as a stand in. I didn’t actually read this Modern Library classic edition, but I liked the cover.

My Rating: 4/5

The Angel Experiment

This post first published August 27, 2012.

Author: James Patterson
Series: Maximum Ride #1
First Published: April 2005
Publisher: Little Brown & Company
422 pages (paperback)
 
I’ve always wanted to read a James Patterson book, and I thought picking a YA one would be a good place to start since I like YA books.  I guess I had higher expectations since he is such a big name author. I felt a little let down, but I still want to see where this series goes. Also, this book is “YA”, and I opened this book up with that in mind, but it is actually more of a middle grade book.

The Angel Experiment is the first book in an eight book series about a girl named Maximum Ride and her friends. Max and her six friends are 98% human and 2% avian. They were lab experiments created by scientists. Each of them have a magnificent pair of wings on their back, and each of them also have unique powers. The six of them were rescued from the lab by a sympathetic scientist named Jeb and for the last four years were raised in a secluded house high in the mountains. Two years ago Jeb disappeared though, most likely dead. One day, out of the blue, Erasers — werewolf-like creatures also created by those same scientists — crash their hiding place and kidnap the youngest of their group, a little six year old named Angel. Determined to get their friend back, Max and the others prepare to journey to rescue her, while at the same time, hoping they will be able to find more about their past before they became ‘mutants’.

I think my problem with this book was the way the story progressed. The characters had clear goals to get to, but for some odd reason, would get extremely easily distracted and do something else for a few chapters before remembering, “Oh yeah, we have to rescue Angel.” There were also chapters where they did things that didn’t seem necessary to the plot, like attend a concert or eat in a restaurant.  Granted, the chapters were very, very short, so it’s not as if I had to spend an agonizing number of pages reading about mundane activities, but still. The Erasers also showed up at regular points in the story to shake up Max and her friends, but they always win the fight and manage to get away. Very predictable, and kind of reminded me of children’s cartoon shows where the bad guys show up but the good guys always, always win.

The ending was also rather disappointing as well. The climax was not very climactic and it all happened very, very quickly. I was pretty surprised to realize I have reached the end of the book. The ending didn’t feel very conclusive, which I suppose is intended as it is the first book of a series, but it felt rushed and abrupt.

Other things I was not too happy about was the juvenile style writing (I do realize it’s a kid’s book, but the writing was still pretty lackluster) and the characters being rather one dimensional.
However, I did really like the concept of the lab created mutants and it was actually a pretty fun and humorous book as well, even if it is kids’ humor. I do find myself wanting to find out more about Maximum Ride and why the scientists think she will one day “save the world”. The book definitely has appeal, I was just not too crazy about the actual flow of events in the story. If you are looking for a book aimed at actual young adults, I think this series is a little too young, but if you don’t mind middle grade books, I think the book was pretty fun. It has its flaws, but I hope it gets better in the next installment. Admittedly, I am not this book’s target audience; I think actual kids would find this book pretty engrossing.

My Rating: 2/5

Crossed

This post first published August 24, 2012.

Author: Ally Condie
Series: Matched #2
First Published: November 2011
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
367 pages (hardcover)
 
The first book, Matched, didn’t really impress me that much but I kind of wanted to find out what happens anyway, so I got this second book from the library. Unfortunately, I liked Crossed even less than I like Matched. In a nutshell, Crossed was boring. At least in the first book, stuff happened. Nothing much happens in this book. You could probably skip this book and jump into the third one with little problem.

In Crossed, the story is narrated by both Cassia and Ky in alternating chapters, unlike the first book. Ky has been sent to the Outer Provinces for “work”, but really, has been sentenced to die. Cassia, desperate to reunite with Ky, goes with her work group to the Outer Provinces as well, and when the perfect opportunity arises, runs away with the help of a new friend, Indie. Together, they try to find Ky, who has also escaped from his “work”. Together, their little group try to piece together fragments of clues that hint that there is a rebellion group, the Rising, which Cassia and Indie want to find and join. Ky, on the other hand, has reservations about joining the Rising. Or, in short, there is a rebellion called the Rising, which Cassia and Ky end up joining. Boom, that’s the whole book.

The entire plot of this book could have been condensed and packed into whatever the next book contains, or the previous book. To me, this book’s plot is simple and short, but the author stretched it to fill one book’s worth. The result was a book that moved at a snail’s pace and felt like nothing much was happening most of the time. At the end of the book, I felt like the characters and the story have not progressed very far from where they were when Matched ended. Even Cassia and Ky’s relationship felt stagnant, and in this book, a bit overdone. I can tell the author was trying to make their relationship more deep and meaningful, but it did not work, at least for me. Cassia and Ky’s relationship always felt a bit forced to me, but it’s like full force in this book. Over and over again, the two of them monologue’d about how much they love one another, how they would do anything for one another, writing/thinking poetry about one another (literally). I felt like they were trying to convince me that they were deeply in love, but it came off as too forced instead.

Also combined with the thin plot was the author’s writing style. I think the author writes really well and beautifully. I have no qualms with Ally Condie’s writing. The problem is she writes almost too well. The boring story combined with the poetic, dramatic writing style of the author meant reading a lot about overly wordy passages, another reason why I think this book feels like it was really forced.
Lastly, the setting of this book was quite stagnant and never changed very much. We are no longer in Society where there’s all sorts of different places the characters could visit. We are with Cassia, Ky and their friends running around a canyon for the entire book. There are only rocks, caves and rivers which were repeatedly described.

All in all, I was not impressed with Crossed. I know I wasn’t that crazy about Matched either, but I did think it had potential to get better, so Crossed was rather disappointing. Am I going to read book three? Well, I’ve come this far and it’s the last book, so I’ll probably read it for the closure.

My Rating: 2/5

Matched

This post first published August 22, 2012.

Author: Ally Condie
Series: Matched #1
First Published: November 2010
Publisher: Penguin Group
238 pages (eBook)
 
I was initially attracted to this book because I heard it was a dystopia, and also the covers (for this one and its sequels) are so interesting and lovely. I’m a little disappointed in the book, but I am still somewhat curious as to how it’s all going to go down in the end, so I think I’ll continue onto book two.

Matched takes place in a world where everything is strictly controlled and regulated by the government. They pick where you work, they pick who you marry, they pick your food for you, they pick your clothes for you, everything. Our main character is Cassia, a cheerful 17 year old girl about to become Matched. The government runs all the 17 year olds’ data and match them to their perfect partner, and they are very good at this. Essentially, the government knows who your soul mate is. Cassia is very lucky and gets Matched to her childhood best friend, Xander.

Cassia has never questioned the way Society is before, but when the microchip containing her Match’s information glitches and she sees the photo of another boy on her screen, she wonders how her perfect Society could have made a mistake. Even stranger, she recognizes the glitched boy as a boy in her neighbourhood named Ky. All this gets Cassia to start questioning her Society and wondering if it was possible that she and Ky are the real Match and not her and Xander.

I was super interested in the idea that the government picks who you marry, which is the premise of this novel. I liked the way this book began and it really sucked me in at first. However, shortly after, the book went in a direction that I wasn’t too crazy about. The whole being matched thing kind of faded to the background. It was really just a springboard to help Cassia start questioning her supposedly perfect society. She realizes that everyone is so controlled, no one gets to have a say about anything. No one can make any of their own choices. Then she gets closer to Ky, and she realizes she wants to be able to choose between Xander and Ky. All that wasn’t bad, it’s just that it was presented in a rather dull way. I admit, I kind of got bored reading this book.

I don’t think this was a particularly well built story world, although it does have loads of potential. I heard it was very similar to The Giver by Lois Lowry, although I haven’t read that book so I can’t say much about it. Anyway, some parts of it feel perfectly dystopian-ish and then some parts were just bizarre or confusing. For example, how is it possible that everyone knows how to type, but nobody knows how to write the actual alphabet? It’s the same symbols, I can’t imagine it being that far of a leap to copy something from the screen to paper. I mean, if I knew how to read Russian on my computer, for example, I’m sure some of the letters would have stuck in my mind. Also, Ky is labeled as an Aberration, which supposedly makes him an imperfect match for Cassia, but what is an Aberration exactly? It is not explained in the book. All I know is that aberration means ‘something that deviates from the norm’, and that doesn’t tell me a whole lot about Ky.

The love triangle relationship between Cassia and the two boys was a bit lackluster as well, although at the very end, I did really like the idea of Cassia and Ky being together and I was really sad when they got separated. I don’t know when it happened, but I really started to root for them and their separation scene was a little touching (though bordering on cheesiness a bit, heh). Anyway, I understand Cassia and Xander’s relationship. They are a very standard boy-meets-girl next door kind of couple who are both absolutely perfect and good. I am not quite sure how Cassia started to fall in love with Ky so hard (although, like I said, I like them together regardless). Cassia doesn’t even really know Ky until his face popped up on her glitched microchip, then suddenly she’s super interested in him and falls madly in love with him. Which is doubly weird because Ky is a strong and silent kind of guy, broods a lot, so I don’t know what he did to become attractive in her eyes if she never even noticed him in the first place, and he’s lived on the same street as her for years. I suppose it just drives to home the idea that Society knows who your perfect soulmates are.

In the end, I thought this book was okay. It didn’t amaze me, but it didn’t feel like a chore to finish either. It’s also a rather short book (well, short compared to what I usually read), so it didn’t take me ages to finish or something; I was just interested enough to read it all in one day, four hours. As I said at the beginning of this post, I am interested to see how the story will continue so I think I will give the second book a shot. I do hope the second book and I click better!

My Rating: 2/5

Legend

This post first published June 26, 2012.


Author: Marie Lu
First Published: November 2011
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Series: Legend #1
305 pages (hardcover)
 
I had a hard time deciding if I felt this book was a 3 or a 4 to me. Ultimately, I settled for a 3.5, though Goodreads doesn’t do half points. Overall, I like this book, it was very action packed and it had a solid plot with likable characters. On the other hand, it didn’t feel like a stand-out, unique piece of fiction, mainly because I found it quite predictable, lacked a wow-factor, and blends in well with all the other futuristic YA novels available currently. The lack of good world building really bothered me as well.

Legend takes place in the far future where the United States of America has split into different factions — the Republic (Western US), the Colonies and the Patriots — and are warring against one another. The story alternates between the two main characters. Day is a 15 years old, lives in the slums of the Lake sector (previously L.A., I believe?) and is the Republic’s most wanted criminal. June is also 15, but unlike Day, she is from a wealthy family and is a military prodigy. When June’s older brother, Metias, is killed by Day, June sets out to hunt him down and bring him to justice. It becomes rather difficult when the two unknowingly form a friendship, and discover secrets of the Republic that put both their lives in danger.

The story, the characters and the writing were really well done, I think. It read a bit like a movie script, like watching a film, but I don’t really have any problems with that. It was definitely a very action-packed story, even if some parts of it bordered on the unbelievable side (15 year old soldiers in the USA? Even if it’s a broken USA, I don’t think the country would go backwards and start using child soldiers. Or maybe that’s the point, to show how backwards it has all become? I don’t know, I need more explanation on the history of this world, which I will elaborate on later). The story was exciting, though hardly unique. Many parts of it, like lovers who can’t be together because they live in “opposite worlds”, have been done to death in stories.  So it’s not unique, but I still think it was well done and the author does a really good job presenting it.

The book’s biggest downside is the world-building. Really, I would have rated this book as a 4 or even a 5 if world building actually existed in this book. It is never explained why the USA became separated into these different, individual nations and what exactly they are fighting about. Actually, I have no idea what they were fighting about. I also had no idea why Day was rebelling against the Republic. I mean, I know he was wronged by them once, but so have a million other boys before him, so I don’t know how or why he became this super notorious criminal; what does he get from that? Based on what happened to him, wouldn’t he rather lay low?

But by far, the most annoying thing was not knowing the history of the world. I couldn’t feel properly immersed into the world. At one point, Day reveals he has an old quarter from 1990 where it says the United states of America, making a big deal about how once America was united but no one knows. So obviously the history of the country is unknown to its own citizens. Why?! And how did it happen?! I don’t know, I feel this is a pretty important point to make. And if you tell me, “Oh, all will be revealed in the next books in the series” then I will say, “That’s not good enough.” It comes off as poor or lazy world building, and I’m really tired of YA trilogies withholding key story points for their next books, if that is the case here, because that’s not how book serieses should be written.

Also, the alternating fonts and font colour for Day and June’s chapters were distracting and a bit bothersome.

Anyway, I liked the book, I liked the story and characters, those were all very well done, but the world is so poorly explained that it really drags the rest of the book down a bit. I will continue to read this book series because I did enjoy it after all, though I had hoped for something more impressive.

My Rating: 3.5/5

A Million Suns

This post first published June 24, 2012.

Author: Beth Revis
First Published: January 2012
Publisher: Razorbill
Series: Across the Universe #2
386 pages
 
Well, colour me surprised. I didn’t have my expectations too high for this book initially. I loved Across the Universe which was the first book, but my experience with the middle book of YA sci-fi/dystopian trilogies wasn’t too good (Catching Fire and Insurgent come to mind) even if I loved the first one, so I was wary going into this second one. However, it turns out I loved  this book. I think it was even better than the first one!

After the shocking revelation that happened at the end of book one, it turns out not all of Godspeed‘s secrets are revealed yet. Orion, murderer of several of the cryo-frozen Earth humans, is locked and frozen away in his own cryo-chamber, but is still haunting Amy. He has left a series of clues that will guide Amy to what he calls the “true” secret of Godspeed. However, someone else is sabotaging all the clues, meaning someone already knows the secret and is desperate to keep it that way. In the meantime, Elder is fighting for his right to rule the ship. His leadership is called into question, by his very own best friend, and the entire ship is at the brink of a mutiny. At the same time, he must also figure out how to get Godspeed‘s engines running again so that they are not stranded in space for all of eternity.

I truly enjoyed this book, but it is not without its flaws, so I will get those out of the way first. I felt a teensy bit miffed, I guess, that the so-called secret revealed at the end of book one was brushed aside with the “real” secret in book two. I felt like it made the ending of book one a little cheap, like it doesn’t matter. I also felt that when Amy was hunting down the clues, it sometimes felt like she took a great leap of logic in order to get the next hint, and that kind of bugged me too. Lastly, Amy was kind of  annoying near the end of the book. I felt bad for Elder, who had to put up with her while also juggling his responsibilities as the leader.

The plot starts off a bit on the slow side, but quickly builds momentum. I was totally sucked into the mystery and it was driving me crazy with curiosity! I stayed up very late reading this book, I just had to find out what the “true” secret was. After all, the entire ship seemed to be in a pretty hopeless and doomed situation at the end of book one. I knew it had to be a secret that gave the ship hope. I had two theories, and actually one of mine turned out to be correct, although I didn’t know the exact details. Even though I had my suspicions on what the secret could possibly be about, I was still in awe when it was all revealed. A Million Suns also has a shocking ending like its predecessor, and I’m so upset that I won’t be able to find out what happens until next year, when the third book comes out.
I also want to say it was really great reading about Elder’s character and how he develops. He is thrusted into a leadership position before he’s completely ready, but does his best in the role. Sometimes he comes across really difficult decisions where there isn’t a clear right or wrong answer. He also had to go up against all the people who doubt his abilities. It made me think, “What would I do in this situation?”  I don’t know what I would do in his position, he comes up against some tough problems. I think Elder’s character was the best developed in this book. Amy, on the other hand, was pretty much the same as book one.

I don’t really have too much else to say on this book. It was just a really good read, and for the most part, I can just sit and be completely absorbed into the story without a care for anything else. I love it when a book can do that to me! I am definitely looking forward to the third and final book, can’t wait to see how it all ends.

My Rating: 5/5

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

This post first published March 7, 2012.

Author: Douglas Adams
Published: January 1979
Publisher: Picador
Series: Hitchhiker’s Guide #1
180 pages
 
I had heard of this book before I read it, but I had no idea what it was about. I never saw the movie either, so I walked into this experience truly not knowing what to expect at all.

It’s a regular day for Arthur Dent (well, sort of — he’s trying to stop the city from bulldozing his house to build a new highway). To his surprise, his best friend of fifteen years, Ford, reveals to him that he is actually an alien and has been hitchhiking around the galaxy — that is, until he got stuck here, on Earth, for the past fifteen years. Ford also lets Arthur know that Earth is about to become demolished for a new hyperspace bypass but no worries, he’s got a ride hooked up for the two of them before Earth explodes. The two of them eventually find their way onto the ship, the Heart of Gold, and through the use of its Improbability Drive, encounter all sorts of strange, bizarre coincidences …

First things first, this book is kind of plotless. I’ll totally admit that. It doesn’t really seem to have a point, a greater goal that the characters are striving towards. There’s some vague mysteries that don’t really seem too important, and the ending of the book was really not an ending at all, more like an abrupt stop. I’m not going to point out the bizarre coincidences though, just because those are meant to be in the story via Improbability Drive and in a strange way, made sense to me. Other readers may not feel the same way though.

With that said, I actually liked the book a lot. It was really funny and quirky to me, kind of like watching a cartoon show. There were some subtle digs and social commentary as well, which I always love, though admittedly they were overshadowed by the silliness of the entire story. Sure, things don’t make sense a lot, but it fits with the type of humor this book contains. Super intelligent mice, depressed robots, luxury planet building businesses … this book is like a pot where the author threw every crazy idea together just to see what happens. That, along with Douglas Adams’ witty writing style just hit the spot for me.

I also finally discovered where a lot of pop culture sayings come from now: this book! Like, “Don’t Panic” and how the answer to life, the universe and everything is 42, and some other ones. I heard of those sayings before and never knew where they came from. I just figured they were from some old TV show I never watched because I was too young or whatever. Feels kind of satisfying to discover the origin!

I can understand not every reader is going to like this book. If you are a “serious reader” who requires strict structure and whatnot in your books, this book is probably not for you. You definitely need a certain type of sense of humour to enjoy this book and have to be open to the idea that nothing’s going to make perfect sense. It’ll make some sense, but still, nonsense. This book is definitely one of those hit-or-miss types of books — you’re either gonna like it or dislike it for what it is. However, if it’s of any persuasion, most people seem to enjoy it and it is often considered one of the modern classics of literature.

My Rating: 4/5

Parasite Eve

This post first published December 17, 2011.

Author: Hideaki Sena
Published: 1996 (English: 2007)
Publisher: Vertical Inc.
320 pages (hardcover) 
 
I became interested in this book because I had heard of the video game of the same name. I never played the video game but I had a general idea of what it was about. For those of you who, like me, have also heard of the video game, I’ll just tell you now that the game is based off of the book, but the plots are very, very different. As different as they are, the book is pretty good, in my opinion.

In Parasite Eve, a woman named Kiyomi dies in an automobile accident. Her husband, a mitochondria researcher, is absolutely devastated by this and in his grief, convinces his surgeon friend to remove Kiyomi’s liver and give it to him, which he then takes to study in his lab. Meanwhile, Kiyomi’s kidneys are donated to a fourteen year old girl in dire need of them. Unbeknownst to everyone, Kiyomi’s mitochondria have their own consciousness, dubbed Eve. Eve has been waiting millenia for the perfect opportunity to take over her host and give birth to the ultimate being.

The plot right there sounds like one of the most interesting and unique things I’ve read in a long time. Having finished the book now, I definitely found it very fun to read although there were some parts where I thought, “Well, that’s a little ridiculous, isn’t it?” Still, it’s very, very good!

When I first began reading this book, I found the first half rather slow-moving. It wasn’t exactly boring — I was obviously intrigued enough to continue — but because it was so “mysterious” in the beginning, I didn’t really understand where the plot was going. Not to mention there is a lot of technical jargon in the book to explain mitochondria and ATP energy and whatnot, so at times it feels like you’re reading a science textbook of some sort. I think having a basic understanding of high school biology is crucial to understanding this book. Without it, the book probably won’t be as enjoyable.

The second half of the book picks up since it becomes more clear how some of the characters are connected, and just who Eve is and what her purpose is. My interest levels definitely perked up much higher reading the second half and I found I couldn’t quite put it down. I don’t normally read horror novels of any kind, but I think Parasite Eve is really enjoyable even for people like me who aren’t huge horror fans. The story isn’t really scary or anything, and it doesn’t try to gross me out — but it is pretty good at successfully creeping me out! Especially the parts where Eve’s consciousness is revealed to the characters and they start flipping out over what is happening. The characters aren’t particularly sharply drawn or anything, they were a bit plain, if that makes any sense, but I think they were all easy to be sympathetic for. I definitely rooted for them to ‘win’.

It was slow to start, but by the end, it was clear to me that Parasite Eve is a wholly unique book and was a great read, although do be warned that it can get into very technical spiels about mitochondria at times. Without some understanding of cell biology, the reader may get completely lost at those parts. Still, the story is very memorable and I definitely recommend it to any whose interest is perked.

My Rating: 4/5

Hourglass

This post first published December 14, 2011.

Author: Myra McEntire
Published: June 2011
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Series: Hourglass #1
400 pages (hardcover) 
 
When this book was first released, I read several glowing reviews about it. The premise of it sounded very interesting too — I’m a complete sucker for time-travel or time-manipulation related plots. Anyway, I didn’t get around to reading it until now. I just finished it and I feel … underwhelmed.

The story is about a teen girl named Emerson. Her parents are dead; she lives with her much older brother, Thomas, and his wife, Dru. Emerson has a problem in that she is able to see “rips” — ghost-like projections of people from the past. This has led to many people believing she is simply crazy, even though she is not. Her loving brother wants to help Emerson and has sought help from all kinds of people, from professionals to the supernatural to downright shady Internet advertisements. His latest hiree is a man named Michael, who is from a company called the Hourglass and is very interested in Emerson’s case.

Michael’s different from all the “help” Em has had in the past. He helps reveal that her “condition” is actually the effects of a special time-traveling gene she has. The Hourglass is a special place for people who have all sorts of special abilities. Em finally feels like she has found where she belongs, but not before long, she realizes that there is a plot to steal all of the Hourglass’ secrets, and it is crucial that she puts a stop to it.

There’s clearly some ideas that, to me, are inspirations from other sources. The time-traveling gene reminds me greatly of The Time Traveler’s Wife and the Hourglass reminded me of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, from X-Men. Then, there are some ideas that, to me, are trends in YA that are overflowing the market, like ‘families’ of people with special powers (Twilight, Beautiful Creatures) and love triangles (like every single YA title out there …). It was an interesting blend, to say the least, but in the end, it just didn’t work out for me. This book may be advertised as some sort of science fiction, time travel book, but the truth is, it’s just another poorly envisioned teen romance novel. It’s like 30% science fiction, 70% cheap romance.

A significant portion of the book was dedicated to describing how perfect, and handsome Michael is. Of course, he has abs. He’s not an athlete or a body builder or anything, there is no mention of him being particularly active in any way, but he just happens to have abs and well defined muscles all over his body. There were some rather serious scenes Emerson was in, where despite the gravity of the situation, she still manages to somehow steer the narrative back to Michael and his damn abs. This only emphasized the lack of chemistry they had. It was just a whole lot of, “I think you’re beautiful” from both sides, and by the end, they were both exclaiming to the world how they can’t live without one another, essentially.

The actual plot of the story isn’t that bad. Like I said, I may be bias because I love stories that involve time travel, but I did like the concept of Emerson being able to see ghostly projections of dead people, and I did like how the story turned into a ‘I must travel to the past to change the future!’ It sounds a bit typical, but I do like stories like that. But like I said, the science fiction part of the story clearly took a backseat to the TruLuv between Em and Michael, and this is evident by the “rules” of time travel unraveling near the end of the plot. I was told only people with the gene can travel; suddenly we find out you don’t really need the gene. I was told time travel must adhere to the Novikov Principle; at the end, the villain is all, “Pfft, I changed things in the past and look, no one knew!” So while the plot had a great premise and chugged along merrily for the most part (never minding the fact that, still, a majority of it was bad romance), my enthusiasm for it dipped and plateaued by the end.

As for the actual characters, Em was very hard to like. She was just such an angry person, and you’re in her head all the time (it is in first person), so it was a bit annoying. However, I do grant her a few points for acknowledging she’s an angry person. I realize she has some legit issues, but she is a little hard to feel sympathy for. Strangely enough, Em apparently has a black belt in martial arts. Anybody who’s done martial arts before knows that it’s not just about “kicking ass” — they actually emphasize and teach self-control, discipline and how to control your emotions. Which Em violated, all of them. In all honesty, I didn’t expect the author to know this, but it stood out to me because, well, I’ve done martial arts before. I’m pretty sure the whole black belt thing was just added in for the cool factor.
Anyway, this book was two stars for me — it was okay, but it wasn’t great. I’d suggest borrowing it from a library if you are interested in reading it.

My Rating: 2/5

Cinder

This post first published November 17, 2011.

Author: Marissa Meyer
Published: January 3, 2012
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Series: Lunar Chronicles #1
396 pages (eGalley)
 
Long time no review! It probably seemed like I stopped reading or something, but not true! I have been reading novels. I’ve just been reading very, very slowly because of schoolwork.You know, like only ten pages at a time, that kind of thing.

Anyway, the book I have been reading the past several weeks is Cinder by Marissa Meyer. At the time of this writing, it’s not available yet — I received it as a galley from NetGalley.com for review. I was attracted to this title because 1) I love Cinderella stories and 2) I love science-fiction type stories. The premise of Cinder promised to blend the two together, which I’ve never even considered before as all Cinderella retellings I’ve encountered are either historical or modern, so I was hooked right away and hoped it wouldn’t let me down.

The story takes place far, far in the future. Many of Earth’s countries have joined together to form larger nations, such as the European Union, country of Africa and the East Asia Commonwealth. Also, there’s a “country” on the moon, inhabited by the Lunarians. Our story takes place in the East Asia Commonwealth, where our protagonist, Cinder, is a cyborg mechanic. She was adopted from Europe a long time ago by a scientist/inventor but he died and left her with Adri, his wife, and their two daughters Pearl and Peony. Adri is the typical evil stepmother, who bemoans the fact that she is saddled with Cinder, a “useless cyborg” and makes her do all the chores and be the breadwinner for the family. Pearl is just like her mother. Peony, on the other hand, is the only one in the family who cares about Cinder. Her, and Cinder’s cute little  android Iko (who I keep imagining as a pink R2-D2, I don’t know why).

Cinder is approached by Prince Kai one day in the marketplace to repair his personal android, who contains important information regarding Queen Levana and the Lunarians. He suspects the true heir to the Lunar Kingdom, Princess Selene, is still alive and would like to find her to usurp the current Queen, because she’s kind of a tyrant and is threatening war on Earth if Kai doesn’t marry her (only so she can take over the planet, of course!) Cinder and Kai develop an easy going friendship right away, but she hides the fact that she is actually a cyborg from him. Unfortunately, a deadly disease breaks out over the marketplace later and Cinder is sent away by Adri to the royal research labs to find a cure, because she’s immune and she may be the key to the antidote.

So that’s my brief summary of the story. I’m obviously leaving some parts out, but you get the idea. There’s the Cinder and Kai aspect where Cinder struggles with her identity as a cyborg and keeping secrets from Kai; there’s the disease aspect of the story; and lastly, there’s the constant threat of Queen Levana.

One of the things I noticed right away about this story is that it clearly drew inspiration from Sailor Moon. I believe the author even acknowledges this in her acknowledgements page. I thought that was pretty neat — it was one of the favourite childhood cartoons. I think the story did a great job blending the story of Cinderella into a futuristic science-fiction version of the story, even though by the end of the story, it becomes clear that it’s veering off the typical Cinderella story and onto more of a Sailor Moon path. Again, not really a bad thing. It’s great to see the story becoming its own, even if it was based off of Cinderella, but I hope, in the later books, it won’t be too based off of Sailor Moon.
The narration is a bit clunky to me, but definitely goes smoother by the middle of the book. I don’t know why but I found the narrator (who is 3rd person) really jarring in the beginning. The narrator switched between being objective-ish and telling me exactly what was on Cinder’s thoughts a number of times. It was kind of strange. I don’t know how to describe it but it went away by the middle of the book, so I’m not going to make a big deal about it.

One thing about the plot I want to mention is that it is rather predictable.  I foresaw the twist in the story from the very first chapter. It was so obvious to me that I kind of wished the story didn’t try to pretend it was a secret because there wasn’t much of a point when the reader knew what was coming since the beginning.

The characterization was pretty good. I wouldn’t say they were super deep or anything, but they were definitely likeable. The idea of Cinderella as a no-nonsense, cyborg mechanic is definitely a new twist to the story and I quite liked her. Prince Kai, Adri and Pearl did suffer a bit, but overall likeable as well. Their characterizations weren’t that special as they were just the overused kinds, such as the handsome prince who internally struggles with ruling the kingdom, always trying to do the right thing. It’s been done to death, but it is a very safe choice for these characters, and overall, I still liked them. I did particularly like the androids, which is pretty ironic as their entire character is just from a personality chip.
I also thought the relationship between Cinder and Kai was well written. Kai and Cinder do end up liking one another right away, but it’s not what I would call Insta-Love. They had crushes on each other and didn’t really want to admit it, that sort of thing, which to me, is much more realistic and allows time for their relationship to develop and mature, rather than just thrusting us straight into, “They are soulmates and love one another and will die for one another!” I think a lot of YA romances tend to do that, and irregardless if that is a good message to send to readers or not, it’s plain silly. So I was really glad that Cinder and Kai actually had a friendship first. In fact, by the end of the novel, they’re still not “together” or even admitted they like one another. Which again, makes sense. If you plan to have the book be a series, why cram all the romance into the very first book? You’ve got time to spread it out, so use it to make a meaningful relationship between the characters.

Overall, this is a great book to read and I’d definitely recommend it, especially if you like fairy tale retellings, or you’re a fan of Sailor Moon! I will be sure to keep an eye out for the next book in this series.

My Rating: 4/5